GPS MADE EASY!

GPS systems are the hottest thing this Holiday Season. So what do you buy? What features do you look for? When you find the long list of features, what do they mean? A GPS is definately one item you need to see and try in person, not just buy online after reading reviews. There are so many little things that you may or may not like when operating a GPS.

The three big names in GPS are Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. There are also a number of different types of GPS units; handheld, boating, automotive, aviaton and portable, to name a few. Portable is different from handheld. Although the newer GPS's are built with rechargable batteries and can be carried around for a while, time varies from system to system, anywhere from 2-10 hours. For this writeup, lets just concentrate of automotive/portable GPS units.

If you see a GPS for $150 and another for $600, there is a big difference between the two, and not just the price. You get what you pay for with GPS systems. Spending more isn't always the best way though. Are you buying for your husband? Is he a guy that likes gadgets? If so, get as many extra features as you can! If not, who cares if the GPS uses your phone to make calls or can store up to 200 high res photos, why would you need that anyway???

Here are some features that you will see on most GPS Units for sale today. I'll try to explain them is easy terms:

Screen Size: Sizes are measured from corner to corner. Units come in sizes from 3.5" to 7+", but mostly 3.5" and 4.3" are used right now. You'll often hear the 4.3" screen referred to as 'Wide-Screen'. I would suggest the larger size screen, easier to read and use.

Touch Screen: 8 years ago, this was the wave of the future. The future is here, and just about everything has touch screens now. The GPS units only have one button on the case (Power), all other features are accessed by pressing the screen with your fingers. This goes back to the screen size, if you have large fingers, it will drive you crazy when you "fat-finger" a button. Get the larger screen.

Text-To-Speech: The way GPS Units prompt you to turn varies on each unit. Again, the more you pay, the more you get. If the unit does not have Text-to-speech, you will hear a command like this, "Turn right in 500 feet". Text-To-Speech prompts this, "Turn right on Main St." More detail. You can also increase the speech volume and some GPS's allow you to replace the voice. If you don't like the default voice, download an English Man's voice. How about a deep Southern women's voice. Almost too many to choose from.

Automatic Route Calculation: Very helpful feature. If you miss a turn, a new route to your destination is promptly automatically calculated. Some systems are much faster than others.
POI's - "Points of Interests" This is a very cool feature. Find gas stations, restaurants, lodging, tourist attractions, ATMs, emergency services, etc. Looking for a Starbucks along the route your driving? The POI feature allows you to enter in what you're looking for and lets you know if there is one on your route. Depending on the unit, some will call for your, give you the distance off your route, and automatically recalculate to include that POI as part of your route. When buying a unit, check how many POI's come loaded. This varies from unit to unit.

Digital Entertainment System: More and more units are coming equiped with an MP3 player. Just pop in an SD card and listen thru your radio. This is one of those 'special' useless features. Most cars these days have mp3 players built in. If you get a large screen built in GPS, you can also get a DVD/Video screen on it.

LCD TFT Display: Liquid Crystal Display, This is the same technology you see in LCD TVs, just in a smaller display.

Bluetooth Capable: You've heard of bluetooth phones, right? Same thing. This is actually a great way to add an in-car hands free phone system. If the GPS unit is bluetooth capible, it will 'read' your phone and use it to make and answer calls thru it's microphone and speaker. The GPS also shows you caller ID. Some systems allow you to copy your contacts over to the GPS.

Preloaded Maps: You only have to worry about this if you plan to travel outside the US. All units come with the United States (if bought in the US), preloaded. The costlier the GPS, it will more than likely have maps of Canada, Hawaii, Puert Rico, and perhaps Mexico.

From now until Christmas Eve, Keep an eye out for sales. These will go on sale every week. The odd thing about GPS's, you can find the identical item in two different stores, at two hugely different prices. So shop around!